https://twitter.com/SharylAttkisson/statuses/293835832681431040
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JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged the bruised winner of Israel’s election on Tuesday, claiming victory despite unexpected losses to resurgent center-left challengers.
Exit polls showed the Israeli leader’s Likud party, yoked with the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu group, would still be the biggest bloc in the 120-member assembly with 31 seats, 11 fewer than the 42 they held in the previous parliament.
If the exit polls compiled by three local broadcasters prove correct – and they normally do in Israel – Netanyahu would be on course for a third term in office, perhaps leading a hardline coalition that would promote Jewish settlement on occupied land. (more…)
There is an interesting compilation of stories from some of the non-U.S. hostages who survived the Algeria terror attack.
JAPAN: One Japanese worker at the plant remains unaccounted for, according to employer JGC.
NORWAY: Five Norwegian employees of Statoil are still missing, the energy company said.
BRITAIN: Two other Britons still missing and feared dead, the UK government said.
UNITED STATES: 3 Americans dead the US has confirmed. A US official said seven American hostages escaped.
MALAYSIA: Two Malaysians are missing, the government says.
PHILIPPINES: Four Filipinos are missing.
Ask yourself this question as you read: “where is the U.S. Press in similar coverage of our guys”? Are they so interested invested in covering for the failed foreign policy of the Obama administration they cannot bring themselves to report on the most horrific of all terror attacks in recent history? (more…)
(Via Associate Press) Algeria’s special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the middle of the Sahara desert on Saturday in a “final assault” aimed at ending a four-day-old hostage crisis, the state news agency reported. It said 11 militants and seven hostages were killed.
The report, quoting a security source, didn’t say whether any hostages or militants remained alive, and it didn’t give the nationalities of the dead. It said the army was forced to intervene after a fire broke out in the plant. (more…)
The brother of Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri joined dozens of Egyptian Islamists in a protest Friday near the French embassy in Cairo against French intervention in Mali.
Mohammed al-Zawahiri took part in the demonstration during which protesters accused Paris of being “at war against Islam”. (more…)
(Via MEMRI.org) Several Islamist and jihadi groups have called for a demonstration outside the French embassy in Cairo, in protest over France’s campaign against jihadis in Mali. The demonstration is slated to be held January 18, following Friday prayers. The groups, which include the General Islamic Movement (Al-tayyar al-islami al-‘am), a coalition of Islamist groups; the Hazem Abu Isma’il Ultras; and the Salafi-jihadi movement, have issued their calls via their Facebook pages, among other venues.
Indeed, the Hazem Abu Isma’il Ultras, a group of fanatical fans of the Salafi presidential candidate Hazem Abu Isma’il, issued an invitation to the demonstration on their Facebook page, specifying that is purpose was “to lift the siege from our brothers in Mali and stop the global crime committed against the Muslims there.” The demonstration is set to begin with a procession from a mosque in Giza nearby the French embassy. (more…)
If you are a person who follows U.S. foreign policy, even tangentially, you must watch this video of Hillary Clinton discussing the terrorist attack / hostage crisis in Algeria:
Couple of thoughts. (more…)
Details are again sketchy. The official U.S. media is avoiding this like the plague. Huffington post had an article with 6 victims. But, it appears the reality is far worse. Reuters reports 34 of the initial 41 hostages have been killed, and U.K. Daily Mail says up to 35 of the hostages killed.
Reports late last night from French Media were that the hostages had been outfitted with explosive, suicide type, bomb belts/vests. Prayers for all the families of the victims. Here are a couple of latest reports.
(Daily Mail)Two British workers were reported tonight to be among the dead following a botched Algerian military raid to free hostages at a desert gas plant.
Thirty hostages, including at least seven foreigners, were killed when Algerian forces stormed a BP desert gas plant seized by Islamist militants, an Algerian security source said. (more…)
(AFP) – Islamist forces based in northern Mali vowed Monday to avenge France’s fierce military offensive against them on French soil.
“France has attacked Islam. We will strike at the heart of France,” said a leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), an offshoot of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). (more…)
The French have lost substantial ground since their decision to try to push back against the Islamists. Most of the “Western Trained” state army officers have defected to the other side. al-Qaeda is within 250 miles of the Capitol, Bamako. This is the heartland of both AQIM and al-Shabab elements. Both of which were the main benefactors from the Libyan weapons depots, including surface to air missiles.
The French military, which began battling in Mali on Friday, expanded its aerial bombing campaign of northern Mali, launching airstrikes for the first time in central Mali to combat the new threat. But it failed to halt the advance of the rebels, who now are only 250 miles from the capital Bamako, in the far south. Before France sent its forces in on Friday, the closest known spot the Islamists were to the capital was 420 miles away near the central belt, though they might have infiltrated closer than that. (link)
al-Qaeda is bragging by posting pictures of the dead French military via twitter., and sending out press releases.
Plea from sanctimonious Hollande to the U.S.A. begging for help in 3…… 2……
(France 24) — France’s military intervention in Mali will be increased to 2,500 French soldiers, defence ministry sources said Tuesday, as the offensive in the divided African country entered its fifth day.
French President François Hollande held a press conference during a state visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday, during which he outlined France’s three goals in Mali. (more…)